By Catriona Macpherson

THE ARMY AND THE EMPIRE

Never before and never since has the world witnessed anything
like the avalanche of conquests that followed Jenghiz Khan's
election as supreme ruler of the Mongol nation. There has never
been anyone to equal him. Someone said he was like a desert storm
that tore up cities in its path. The Mongol assault was the last
and greatest of all predatory incursions of nomadism on the
civilized world, both East and West. From the thirteenth century
to the fifteenth century nomadism from Central Asia dominated the
known world. Some authorities have called these three centuries
the Age of the Mongols.

From the beginning of history there has been conflict between
nomad and civilized or sedentary people. It could be called a
clash between the "haves" and the "have-nots". Civilization bred
complacency, an open invitation to predatory men. Again and again
the aggressive nomad brought fresh blood and leadership to a
static, civilized people. The Chinese civilization was a prime
example of people ripe for invasion.

The conquests of Jenghiz Khan and his immediate successors
surprised the civilized world and no doubt the Mongol khans
themselves, with the probable exception of Jenghiz. From relative
obscurity in the twelfth century, he welded the Mongols into an
awesome military machine which was feared and hated by most of the
known world.

In the Year of the Tiger, 1206, all the clans of the steppes,
the people who lived in felt tents, met at a Great Kuriltai at the
source of the Onon River. Under the nine-tailed white banner, the
clansmen swore allegiance to the 39 year old Jenghiz Khan and
proclaimed him Emperor of the Steppes. Under his strong
leadership, for the first time, the Mongols achieved national
unity. To strengthen his position, he sent armies to intimidate any
tribes around his borders who did not submit to his authority.

His was a new power, based on tribal unity, centered on one
person who had already shown his ability to conquer and provide
security and stability. His election to supreme ruler of all the
people who would henceforth be known as Mongols, should have
caused the rest of the world to sit up and take notice. For the
first time the united tribes had a common name, Mongol, which soon
attracted many other warriors who sought adventure and wealth.
It was under Jenghiz Khan's leadership that the Mongols began
their conquest of countries with a more advanced civilization than
their own. The Mongol people and their ruler had the same
objective and now they did not stop with booty but began to build
a huge, powerful state which ultimately was to reach from the
Pacific Ocean to Hungary and from Russia to northern India. It was
the largest contiguous land empire in the history of man. Not
even Alexander the Great, the Romans, or Napoleon conquered and
ruled such a large empire.

To conquer territory and mold it into an empire, required a
well-trained, well-equipped army, which took time, skill and
patience to build. Jenghiz Khan laid the foundations for his army
before he was elected Khan, as one by one he conquered the tribes
of the steppes and incorporated them into his army, the best of the
thirteenth century world. Twentieth century soldiers would
recognize in their own military experience the tactics and training
principles, the structure of command, and the organization of the
Mongol army. Armies of today still use the military tactic of
softening up the enemy by artillery fire, pioneered by the Mongols,
the difference being, the Mongols used arrows, and stones and other
missiles fired from siege engines, instead of heavy artillery
cannon.

His old night and day guards were increased to 1,000 men each.
Later they were strengthened to 10,000 and became the Imperial
Guard, keshik, which was under the control of the commander-in-
chief. 1,000 of these were the emperor's personal guard, and only
fought when Jenghiz Khan went to war. During times of peace, they
acted as part of the court guard: supervising the palace staff,
tents, ox and camel herds, had charge of the palace wagons, the
Yak's tail banners, lances, kettledrums, dishes and drinking bowls.
They also handled the storage and issue of quivers, bows, armor and
all other weapons. They saw to the horses, loading and unloading
the palace tents, and the issuing of raw silk. They assisted
Shigikutuku who carried out the law.

The Mongols now formed one united army, organized on a decimal
system, which was not new, as armies before Jenghiz Khan's time had
been so organized. It was a simple but effective system. A troop
of 10, called an arban, was the smallest unit. A squadron of 100,
made up of 10 arbans, was called a jagun. A regiment of 1,000,
made up of 10 jaguns, was called a minghan. A division of 10,000,
made up of 10 minghans, was called a tumen. Generally there would
be two to three tumens in a Mongol army. All able-bodied men
between 14 and 60 years of age were liable for military service.

The army was divided into three parts. The Jun-gar was the Army
of the Left Wing or East, the Baran-gar was the Army of the Right
Wing or West, and the Khol was the Army of the Center.

The decimal system facilitated giving orders. No officer had
to give orders to more than 10 men and everyone was responsible
only to the officer above him. Order and discipline could be
effectively maintained. Not only in organization but in discipline
the Mongol Army was superior to other armies of its time and for
some time to come.

On a campaign 200 men were sent two days' ride ahead to act as
scouts, 200 more to the rear, and 200 on each flank so that the
army could not be attacked by surprise. They carried no baggage
with them on long campaigns. Each man carried two leather flasks
to hold milk and a pignate, a small earthen pot for cooking meat.
If they killed an animal and had no pot, they took out the stomach,
emptied it, filled it with water, and cooked it over a fire. When
it was done, they ate flesh, pot and all. Shelter from rain was
provided by a small, felt tent. They could ride ten days without
food or fire, living on blood from their horses. They slit open a
vein, drank the blood and then carefully bound up the wound for
horses were too important to sacrifice . Sometimes they carried
dried blood with them, which they dissolved in water before
drinking. They carried dried milk in a leather flask, to which
they added water, before drinking. While they rode ,the milk
dissolved in the water and provided them with a nourishing drink.
In addition to dried milk, they carried qumiz, millet and dried
meat. The dried milk (iron rations) and the small tents (one-man
`dog-tents') were centuries ahead of their time.

The Mongols' chief weapons were speed and surprise. No army
equaled theirs in mobility, horsemanship or archery. Training
provided discipline and organization, factors which for some time
to come, made their army invincible. Early on Jenghiz Khan found
that sound military decisions could only be made when he was well-
informed. He employed a network of spies, to obtain information
from travellers, merchants, dissidents, scouts, and anyone else who
might have an iota of useful information. He learned about
mountain passes, river fords, roads, fortified places, towns,
cities and military forces they might encounter on a campaign. His
battle plans would be drawn up based on this information. At a
kuriltai plans for a campaign would be discussed, how many men and
horses would be needed, (at least two to three for each man), what
supplies and livestock on the hoof would be necessary and what
would be a suitable season to campaign. The Russian campaign was
timed so the Mongols would be crossing frozen rivers and moving
through Russia on terrain similar to their homeland. When
everything had been discussed down to the minutest detail, and
preparations completed, the commander would review the army to see
if it was up to strength. A general inspection would be made of
the horses and equipment, and orders given for the troops to march.
Mongols usually entered a country in widely spaced columns but in
the face of a large enemy they were able to unite with unbelievable
speed. They used a system of messengers, out of which grew the
imperial postal service, yam, which could transmit information over
vast distances in an incredibly short time. It operated somewhat
like the Pony Express of the American West.

Unquestioned obedience to his commander, ability to endure
unspeakable hardships, unbelievable mastery of the bow, excellent
horsemanship, with horses obedient to their riders, made the Mongol
warrior superior to his enemy. The horse archer could ride in,
fire a deadly volley of arrows, turn and disappear, and reappear
just as suddenly, to harrass and demoralize the enemy until he
finally gave up. Only after the enemy and his horses were worn
down by charges did the Mongols fight at close quarters. The
Mongols were the first armies in military history to use "fire
power", arrows and siege engines to precede an assault. Each
warrior carried a file for sharpening arrowheads, a small axe, a
lasso, rope for pulling siege engines, needle and thread, and an
awl. Some troopers carried lances with hooks on the end, used to
drag a man from his saddle. The Mongol horsemen carried a
composite bow, their favorite, and a long bow. The long bow was
used when they were fighting at long range and the composite bow
was used in a charge and in fighting from the saddle at close
quarters. The composite bow had a pull of 166 pounds and was
deadly accurate at a range of 200 to 300 yards. The horse
archers carried three quivers each containing different types of
arrows for different ranges and uses. One type could penetrate
armor, another was used against unprotected troops, and still a
third type was used for arrow grenades and flaming naptha. In
addition to mounted archers, the army had both light and heavy
cavalry. The light cavalry carried bows and javelins, and the
heavy cavalry carried lances with hooks on the ends, and sometimes
maces. They both carried sabers for hand to hand fighting.
Shields were generally used when on guard duty. Eventually their
light artillery used various missile-throwing machines, mangonels,
catapults, ballista and trebuchets. Smaller siege engines could be
taken apart, packed on animals or in carts and go anywhere. Their
fire was accurate and rapid. In 1220 when Jenghiz Khan invaded the
west, he took with him a corps of Chinese artillerymen and machines
they called ho pao, or fire projectors. In the fall of 1225 he
fielded the greatest war machine the world had ever seen. His
armies gained experience in campaigns from the Yellow Sea to the
Crimea, and they possessed every siege engine known to man at that
time. It looked as if the army was invincible.

For protection the Mongols wore armor, of leather or iron,
with a raw silk coat under their armor for additional protection.
An arrow, when it hit its target, would carry the unpierced silk
into the flesh and the arrow could be removed by pulling gently at
the coat; the Mongols did not abandon their wounded. Their
lamellar armor consisted of four pieces of overlapping plates.
These were lacquered to provide protection against humidity. The
helmet was of iron or steel and the drop or neck protection was
leather. Some Mongols made horse armor in five sections; one on
each side from head to tail, fastened to the saddle and behind the
saddle on its back and also on the neck, a third section stretched
over the hindquarters and was tied to the side parts, with a hole
through which the tail emerged, a fourth piece covered the breast
and a fifth piece, an iron plate for the forehead, was fastened on
each side of the neck.

The tulughma, a typical Mongol battle formation, was made up
of five ranks spaced at wide intervals. The heavy cavalry in the
two front ranks wore complete armor, carried swords, lances, and
maces; and their horses were armored. The three rear ranks were
light cavalry, wore no armor and carried bows and javelins. When
the battle began part of the light cavalry swept around the ends to
harry the enemy as he advanced. As the enemy drew near, the rest
of the light cavalry moved forward through the spaces in the front
lines and overwhelmed the enemy with arrows and javelins. When the
enemy ranks were thrown into disorder, the rear ranks retired back
through the intervals and the front lines charged in for the
kill.

Mongol battle movements were controlled by signals with the
black and white flags of the squadrons during the daylight and by
lanterns at night. Thus the troops could be deployed speedily in
comparative silence further demoralizing the enemy. At the start
of a charge the Mongols were accompanied by the naccara, war drums
carried on camel's backs. Once the drums pierced the silence, the
Mongols rushed forward, screaming ferociously.

Other tactics included a feigned retreat to lure the enemy
into a prepared ambush. There they would pour down on the enemy
and annihilate them. When they met a superior force they often
sent out riders to stir up the dust behind their horses by using
branches tied to their horse's tails. The enemy would think large
reinforcements were coming up and would retreat.

The Mongols had no equal in field warfare. At first they had
no experience in siege warfare, and did not know how to effectively
break into a walled city, nor did they know what to do with the
city once they did break in. Realizing their lack of training in
siege warfare, they used captured foreign siege experts and soon
the Mongols were attacking cities, with newly acquired catapults,
mangonels, ladders and burning oil; and battalions of Chinese
engineers and artillerymen. It is true that atrocities were
committed under the leadership of Jenghiz Khan, but in the Mongol
milieu of his time, they knew no other way of warfare; only the
nomad's way. Much of the barbarity of the Mongols came from
ignorance; they perceived the settled areas useful only for raids
to capture slaves, women and booty. Because they had had no
experience with conquered cities, they killed the inhabitants and
burned the cities. When they realized they could use cities to
consolidate and expand their power, and be a source of future
wealth, they were spared. Because they lacked the time and
knowledge, the Mongols employed many foreigners to help with the
administration of their captured cities.

Many historians believed that Mongol victories were due to an
overwhelming superiority of numbers. Further research disproves
this excuse of medieval historians and shows that often the Mongols
were outnumbered. Their superior fire power and military tactics
led their opponents to believe the Mongols outnumbered them. The
basis of Mongol power was their undeniable prowess on the
battlefield. In addition they wasted nothing, adopted anything
useful: Greek and Persian physicians, naptha incendiary missiles,
western-style weight-and-counterpoise siege catapults (trebuchet,
ballista, and Mangonel). The Emperor was supreme commander, but
once a battle plan was decided upon, the generals carried out the
operations without interference from the Emperor. Command of the
armies was held by the royal princes in name only. The actual
control went to the experienced generals, the most famous of whom
were Jebe Noyan and Subodai Bahadur in the Western campaigns and
Mukhali in China. Promotions were by merit, not seniority, and
both Jebe and Subodai were made generals before they were twenty
five. Through the years students of military tactics have studied
the campaign strategies of Subodai; among the most well-known were
Napoleon, Gustavus Adolphus, Rommel and Patton.

Discipline was harsh, but Mongol warriors were treated fairly,
and by and large were better off than the soldiers of most armies
up until recent times. They received no pay but were given a fair
share of the booty. Officers usually came from the Mongol
aristocracy and a class of freemen, darkhat. The Mongols were
convinced they were invincible and had been sent by The Everlasting
Blue Sky to conquer the world, and this could not help but have a
positive effect on their fighting.

They believed the Sulde or guardian spirit of the Altan Uruk,
Golden Family resided in the great white standard that led the Army
to near world conquest. Many Mongols, to this day, preserve and
revere the White Banner of the Sulde believing it is the same one
that led the armies of Jenghiz Khan to victory. They believe that
the soul of the emperor entered the banner and he became the
guardian of his clan. There is a Messianic belief among large
numbers of Mongols that he will rise again and lead them to new
power and glory.

Jenghiz Khan died in 1227 at the height of his power. He was
master of the largest empire ever created in the lifetime of one
person. Under the khanships of Ogodai, Guyuk, Mongke, and Qublai,
the rest of the Mongol Empire was forged. It reached from the
Pacific Ocean to Hungary and from Russia to northern India, being
not only conquered but governed by the Mongols. Other territories,
such as Mien and Novgorod, paid them tribute.

Jenghiz Khan had not only created a huge, well-organized
empire, but had also built an experienced, victorious army, the
command of which he entrusted to his brilliant generals. He had
laid the ground-work for an administrative structure and had given
them a rigid code of laws. However, he could not have risen to a
position of such power and glory without the aid of his trusted
companions, andas, who had worked just as hard as he had to build
up his empire. He was not surrounded by flattering, servile
followers but devoted, reliable men who could carry out any
assignment he gave them. His greatest gifts to his sons were the
Mongol Army and this body of loyal, talented servants, whom he
counted upon to maintain the integrity of the empire. According to
his will, Ogodai, Jagadai and Tolui divided up the main horde, his
personal army. The system of mobilizing, training and maneuvering
continued as before. The veteran generals were there to carry on
the extension of the empire.

Jenghiz, a man of iron will, foresight, political and military
genius, held the empire together during his lifetime. At one point
in his earlier years he voiced a fear that his descendants would
dress in fine silks, eat rich food, drink sweet wines and surround
themselves with luxury, forgetting their nomad roots. He always
kept a square of gray felt under his throne as a reminder of his
nomad heritage. Just prior to his death, however, it was evident
that he planned for his descendants and the Mongol aristocracy to
continue to follow the nomad ways, which he believed to be superior
to the lifestyle of sedentary people. The nomads had an
independent, less complicated way of life compared to sedentary
people. Jenghiz saw sedentary people as forever being slaves
either to material possessions, conquerors or both. He believed
nomads were destined to rule over sedentary people.

Late in 1226, word came to Jenghiz Khan that his oldest son,
Jochi, planned to revolt and was assembling an army for that
purpose. Details are scanty as to an open revolt but it was known
that Jochi wanted his own kingdom. He had been openly critical of
his father's and brothers' policy during the Khwarezm campaign.
After the war he retired to his appanaged territory in what is now
part of Russia and thereafter made many excuses not to go to
Karakorum when summoned by his father. He died in February of 1227
just six months before the Conqueror, but his successors were to
follow his policy and remain aloof from the Khan. Looking back it
would seem that this was the first sign of dissension from within.
In anticipation of his death, he divided up his empire. To
the sons of his deceased eldest son, Jochi, he gave the still-to-
be-conquered western Eurasian steppe, the land to the north and
west to the Altai, as far as Mongol arms could conquer. To his
second son, Jagadai, went the old Khwareizmian Empire and the land
east of it to the Altai Mountains. Ogodai, his third son, was made
ruler of China and to his youngest son, Tolui, went the Mongolian
homeland, a nomad custom. Each had his own territory and armies,
each was to cooperate with and obey the new emperor, who would be
the first to assume the title of Khaghan (Great Khan) to further
expand the empire's frontiers.

Jenghiz chose his third son, Ogodai, as his successor.
According to custom, Jenghiz was elected as Khan of the Mongols
because he was the strongest chief. Ogodai wasn't selected because
he was the strongest, but because he was generous and forgiving,
had enough willpower not to get involved in irresponsible actions
and he could act severly when it was necessary. Because of their
nature, neither Jagadai nor Tolui could obey each other, if one
were chosen khan; but both could give their allegiance to Ogodai.
Jenghiz Khan's decision to choose one of his sons as his successor
led the aristocracy and the princes to believe that future khans
should be chosen from the line of Ogodai. This departure from
custom was to cause trouble within the Empire.

The Conqueror believed that if enough Mongols were educated,
they could eliminate the employment of foreigners in civil
administration, although while he needed them, he never hesitated
to use them. He regarded the kind of education that was needed to
keep the empire together as compatible with a nomadic life. He
thought that an educated pastoral society could be organized like
his army but that proved impossible.

Jenghiz Khan's empire survived for some thirty or so years
after his death, but by 1260 the vigor of conquest had passed its
zenith and their story became one of division and decay, as they
began to abandon the policies and ideas of the Conqueror. Ogodai
was a decent enough ruler but he was no Jenghiz. The events that
followed chipped away at the central authority and cohesiveness of
the empire, weakening it, causing it to fall apart from within.

The absence of an orderly system of succession led to
conflicts and inevitably to the destruction of the empire. When
Ogodai died, his widow, Toregene, served the empire as regent for
five years before his son Guyuk was elected Great Khan. During
these five years, political scheming and intrigue tore away at the
inner strength of the empire; a strength which had grown out of
unity. Batu, leader of the line of Jochi, refused to attend
Guyuk's enthronement ceremonies. There was `bad blood' between
them, stemming from a petty argument over who should take the first
drink, a point of honor among the Mongols, at a feast held to
celebrate the army's victories in the Russian campaign. During
Guyuk's brief reign, the authority of the central government fell
to a new low, in part because of the khan's addiction to alcohol
and in part because of Batu's lack of support. Dynastic troubles
continued to plague the Mongol empire. Each of the following
successions brought its own schemes and intrigues further
dissipating the strength of the empire. After the death of Guyuk,
Batu wasn't about to allow a descendant of Ogodai to mount the
throne. He condescended to allow Guyuk's widow, Oghul Gaimish, to
act as regent. With the support of Tolui's widow, Sorghaghtani, he
convened a kuriltai south of Lake Balkash in 1250; and Mongke,
Tolui's oldest son, was proclaimed khaghan. The lines of Jagadai
and Ogodai refused to attend, saying it wasn't official unless the
kuriltai was held in the capital, Karakorum. Eventually Mongke
bowed to tradition and a second coronation was held in Mongolia in
1251. An election which was stamped by intrigue, was followed by
a ruthless purge of his opponents. He was a strong leader but the
process of disruption of the Mongol Empire had already begun.
Under Mongke's khanship, Batu and the Golden Horde became
independent of the rest of the empire.

Mongke, like Ogodai before him, did not set forth a clear line
of succession and in 1260 civil war broke out between Qublai and
Arygh Boke, son of Tolui,each seeing himself Mongke's successor.
Arygh Boke led the conservative Mongols who wanted the old way of
life, taking wealth from the empire without mingling with the
conquered people or getting involved in their government. Qublai
knew an empire won on horseback could not be governed on horseback,
something Jenghiz Khan had come to realize many years before. He
intended to establish a permanent, sophisticated government in
China.

Qublai succeeded in establishing himself as Great Khan,
but not without a price. Mongol fighting Mongol continued to
undermine the unity of the empire.

Alliances between appanages of the Mongol empire caused
further fragmentation. Hulagu, Ilkhan of Persia, Mesopotamia and
Syria, joined forces with Qublai while he was pressing his claim to
the throne of the empire. Arygh Boke, at the same time, reached an
agreement with Berke, Khan of the Golden Horde, the Mongol kingdom
in south Russia. After Qublai moved the capital from Karakorum to
Peking, the empire of the Ilkhan severed ties with Peking, followed
by the smaller Mongol groups in Turkestan. When Qublai died, the
supremacy of the Great Khan died too. Civil war broke out between
Arygh Boke and Hulagu in 1260. Berke ordered his troops who had
been fighting in the service of Hulagu to leave his service and go
to Egypt. For the first time a Mongol agreement with a foreign
power took precedence over an agreement with another Mongol
kingdom. Still later there was friction between the Golden
Horde and Persia. The Ilkhan Ghazan refused to restore the
Caucasus to the Golden Horde. Political intrigue and conspiracy
continued to weaken the empire, resulting in the loss of many of
their external possessions, among them Georgia and Lesser Armenia.
Persia was ravaged and plundered by the Golden Horde, decimated by
the Black Plague, torn apart by ruthless internecine wars, and by
1359, the Mongol Empire in Persia ceased to exist.

The boundary between the Jagadai Khanate and the kingdom of
Ogodai had never been defined by Jenghiz when he was dividing his
empire among his sons. Over the years this led to occasional
clashes. Prince Alghu of the House of Jagadai took possession of
Khorazm and Otrar, which belonged to the Golden Horde; civil war
followed. Qaidu Khan, Ogodai's grandson, allied himself with Berke
of the Golden Horde against the Il-khan of Persia. Fragmentation
continued; the Jagadai state was divided into two parts and the
Golden Horde broke away from the Mongol Empire.

The power of the Golden Horde declined as fighting with Persia
continued; the bone of contention still being the Caucasus. Parts
of the Golden Horde were drifting away, namely Bulgaria and
Byzantium. Discord between various Russian princes forced the
Mongols to pay more attention to what was happening within their
kingdom. As in Persia, due to increasing Turkish influence, the
Yassa was gradually replaced with the Muslim canon law, the
shari'a. In 1354 the Ottoman Turks captured the Dardanelles,
cutting off trade between the Horde and Egypt. The status of the
Golden Horde was finally reduced to a state of Eastern Europe.
Internal upheaval, plots and assassinations followed in quick
succession and the state disintegrated just as Persia had done a
few years earlier.

Religion played an important part in the breakup of the
empire. Jenghiz had always practiced an extraordinary religious
tolerance. For a number of years his successors appeared to sway
this way and that. In 1295, the Ilkhan Empire restored Islam as
the official state religion. With religion no longer a barrier
between Turk and Mongol, they blended into a new nation, with
Turkish becoming the common language. The Mongol language
disappeared, the Empire of the Il-khans was completely dominated by
Turkish influence; and a true Mongol state no longer existed in
Persia. At the beginning of the 14th century, the Jagadai Khanate
and the Golden Horde restored Islam as the state religion. The
fusion of Turk and Mongol produced a mixed race, and led to the
replacement of the Mongol language with an eastern form of the
Turkish language. Qublai installed Buddhism as the state religion,
alienating the Chinese Confucian gentry, a loss which played a
major role in the decline of Mongol power in China. Palace
intrigues, plots and plans against the Mongol aristocracy produced
its share of disruption to the empire. Inflation, stemming from
the use of paper money, and exorbitant taxes levied on the
peasants, to support the Mongol aristocracy, sparked a Chinese
nationalist movement which brought about the rapid collapse of the
Yuan Dynasty. The last khaghan of the Mongol Empire fled Peking in
1368, just ahead of the Chinese rebel armies, and he took refuge in
Mongolia.

The Mongols adapted themselves to the sedentary societies
they ruled. Eventually this affected their mobility which led to
the decline of their military supremacy. While conservative Mongol
opposition to Qublai produced splits in the political structure,
the process of cultural assimilation was more dangerous. The
Mongols in China had become Sinicized, and after 1260, Chinese
histories refer to Qublai as a Chinese monarch, founder of the Yuan
Dynasty (1280-1368). The Mongols of the Golden Horde came under
Russian influence and the Ilkhanate in Persia fell under the
cultural influence of Islam and Iran. The only pure Mongols
remaining, Conservatives, were those in the homeland, Mongolia.
In addition to political disunity, cultural differences played a
part in the separation of the eastern parts of the empire from the
western parts.

In the Pamirs, Eastern and Western Turkestan and to the north,
the Mongols fell back to the tribal conditions of pre-Jenghiz time.
The Mongols of the Golden Horde reverted to a similar nomad life.
In China, the Mongols who were left behind when the last Mongol
emperor returned to Mongolia, found work with the new regime, the
Ming Dynasty. In the homeland, the Mongols slipped back into the
old system of intertribal warfare; fighting over grazing lands.
Six hundred years after the birth of Jenghiz Khan, the last of
his decendants handed over his territories; in Hindustan the
British conquered the Moghuls (a corruption of Mongol), and the
Mongols in the east yielded to Chinese armies. The Tatar khans of
the Crimea became subjects of Catherine the Great and at the same
time, the Kalmuk Horde left the Volga region and by a long and
terrible march eastward, returned to their homeland.

The final refuge of Jenghiz Khan's decendants was the land
between Lake Baikul and the Aral Sea. Here in the steppe of mid-
Asia, they wandered from summer to winter pasture, living in their
felt tents, following their herds, true nomads once more. Did they
talk around the fire at night? Did they know that through these
same valleys the fierce Mongol warriors, who followed the yak-tail
standard of Jenghiz Khan, surged forth to terrify the world?
And so the Mongol Empire passed, fragmenting into nomad tribes
from which it had come. The brief and terrible parade of the
Mongol horse archers, conquerors of half the world, passed by
leaving almost no traces of their conquests. Karakorum, their
capital, is buried in the desert sand and even the site of the
grave of their mightly leader is unknown.